Ace: GIMME BACK MY C.D. YOU LITTLE RUNT!

Yami: Nope. I beat you in that poker game fair and square.

Ace: Attacks Yami
(Cue dust cloud fight)

Gotc: sighs I have to hide that poker game... Looks up Oooooh! Readers! YAY!

Ace: sticks head out of dust cloud They're just being polite you know.

Gotc: eye twitches jumps in dust cloud

Ace&Yami: AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Squeaky the Whale plushie pops out of nowhere

Squeaky: Ahem, Gotc does not own Yugioh or any of the characters, but Ace is hers for an eternity.

Ace: Ummm... What's with the whale?

Readers: Awwww... It's cute!

Squeaky: Squeak! ;D

Ace: Scoffs It's not that cute.

Yami: takes cover

Hell: Freezes over

Gotc: WHAT DID YOU SAY!

Squeaky: While she tears Ace into little pieces, you readers enjoy the fic. (/ Yugi to Yami /.../ Yami to Yugi /) ... Squeak:D

Chap 3: Calm Before the Storm

A fire suddenly flare up illuminating a huge cavern, and Ace's angry expression.
" What the hell were you thinking! You guys could have been killed out there!"
" We just wanted to help!" Tea said getting suddenly upset at Ace, "What were we supposed to think with you running off like that? And then talking in that weird language! What exactly did you want us to do? Just sit back and wait things out?"
Ace looked at Tea with the same angry expression on his face, but instead of yelling again, he sighed and pointed to a blanket that lay on one of the cavern's lower ledges.
" Joey, cover Yugi up with that blanket. Tristan hand me those two bottles. And Tea, set Yugi over here."
Everyone hurried to do what they were told. Once everything was in place, Ace pressed his ear to Yugi's chest. He listened to the boy's breathing before grabbing the two bottles with a worried expression on his face.
"Is Yuge gonna be alright?" Joey asked Ace.
" I'm not sure. There's a lot of water in his lungs, but I think I can dry it out."
" How are ya' gonna do that!" Tristan asked suspiciously as Ace pulled out several hot coals out of the fire and set them around Yugi.
Ace pulled out the stoppers one the two small bottles and poured the contents of them on to the red-hot coals. A blueish steam began to rise form each of the individual coals, surrounding Yugi in a dense cloud.

"There," Ace said satisfied, "That should dry him out, but in the meantime, try to stay out of the steam. It may dry out Yugi's lungs, but it will yours too. So be careful. Now make yourselves comfortable. You may be here a while..."
"Why?" Joey said getting more and more irritated with Ace's mysterious actions, "What is with you! You've been acting strange ever since I woke you up this morning! Are you mad at me and this is some kind of sick payback! Huh! Yugi could have died out there, and you're writing it off as no big deal!"
"I didn't ask for you four to follow me out here!" Ace shouted back, "I realize what could have happened, that's why I didn't want you to follow me!"
"Yeah? And what is that Ace?" Joey said, " We're your friends man, and we just want to help."

Ace looked at everyone with a conflicting expression on his face, before looking at the unconscious Yugi. For a moment it seemed like Ace was about to say something, but it wasn't what anyone expected.

"This is something...You can't help me with...No one can..."

Tea, Joey and Tristan all looked at each other as Ace walked quietly to the front of the cave. Joey threw up his hands in exasperation and sat down next to the fire, muttering angrily to himself.
"Maybe you should talk to him Tea," Tristan said in a voice barely above a whisper so Joey wouldn't hear.
"Which one?" Tea asked with a heavy sigh.
"I'll take Joey. Ace is all yours."
"Ok. I'll try," Tea said unsure about the whole situation. After all, why was it always her that had to do these kinds of things? Last time she tried to help out someone, she ended up discovering one of her best friends was a 3000 year old Pharaoh. She drew in a deep breath before slowly making her way towards the entrance of the cave where Ace now sat. But before she could even see him, a very large creature lifted up its head ast the sound of her arrival, about causing her to scream. The creature had a large head and long neck that attached to a powerful torso. Four muscular legs ended in razor sharp claws, and a long tail was wrapped around its scaly body. But perhaps the most identifying feature of the beast were the two large, bat-like wings that were folded against the creature's body. Tea had only seen one of these thing on a duel monsters card before, but didn't doubt what it was. A dragon. And it wasn't alone, six others accompanied the one that now stared her in the face, all apparently asleep. But something was strangely familiar about this one, like she seen it before...
"You should go back inside," Ace's voice said from the cave entrance, " You'll catch a cold out here. Rain's beginning to blow inside."
"Ace," Tea said taking several steps over the sleeping dragons, "What's got you so upset?"
She had almost reached him, when she could have sworn she saw a tear run down the side of the fusionist's darkened face. Ace quickly turned his head the other way at Tea's approach.
"It's just like before...How could I not see it...How could I be so blind..."
"Ace what are you talking about?"
Suddenly she saw Ace wasn't talking to her at all. He was stroking the neck of one of the dragons that lay in the cave. She listened intently as the dragons let out a low growl, almost as if an answer to Ace. Tea took another step and accidentally kicked a rock that lay on the cave floor, alerting Ace to her presence.
"Tea," He said slightly startled
"Ace, I just wanted to make sure you were ok..."
Ace let out a deep sigh. He hoped that she hadn't heard anything. No she couldn't have. No one could know what was about to happen. He had to face this on his own.
"Yeah," Ace said managing a smile, "Just a little tired...You look a little worse for wear too. There's a hot spring in the back of this cave. If you want to, you could wash up. There should be some dry clothes back there too."
A warm bath never sounded so good. Tea smiled at the thought of it. After all, their crash in the storm had left all of them soaking wet, and there was only so much a warm fire could do.
"That sounds good," Tea smiled, "Ace?"
The fusionist looked up at her.
"Whatever's going on, we'll be there for you."

Ace looked shocked at Tea's words, as she headed to the back of the cave.

Gotc: Well, aside from Ace needing Zoloft...

Ace: Hey!

Gotc: This chap was Weird with a capitol 'W'. But I promise things will shortly be explained, along with Ace's mysterious behavior... I think... Maybe he just needs a hug from Squeaky!

Ace: That little-remembers beating whale is so cute!

Squeaky: Squeak! Hugs Ace

Ace: It buuuuuurrrrrrnnnnnssss! Runs in circles

Gotc: Aww... They like each other... Well keep an eye out for the next chap!